A recent sur­vey of Californians con­duct­ed by The Field Poll found that vot­ers are even­ly split between want­i­ng to speed up the exe­cu­tion process (48%) and sup­port­ing repeal of the death penal­ty and replac­ing it with life with­out parole (47%). Support for repeal has grown since 2014, when the ques­tion was last asked. At that time, 40% favored replac­ing the death penal­ty with life with­out parole and 52% sup­port­ed speed­ing up the process. Californians may face a choice between the two options in November, as com­pet­ing ini­tia­tives have been pro­posed. Republicans, whites, and vot­ers over age 50 were more like­ly to sup­port speed­ing up exe­cu­tions, while Democrats, Hispanics, blacks, and vot­ers under 50 favored repeal­ing the death penal­ty. ​“There con­tin­ues to be a very strong move­ment away from sup­port for the death penal­ty in California,” said Matt Cherry, exec­u­tive direc­tor of Death Penalty Focus, an orga­ni­za­tion that is sup­port­ing the ini­tia­tive to repeal the death penal­ty. (click graph­ic to enlarge).

(M. DiCamillo, ​“Californians Sharply Divided About What to Do with the State’s Death Penalty Law,” The Field Poll, January 15, 2016; B. Egelko, ​“Fewer in state sup­port cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in lat­est Field Poll,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 15, 2016). See Public Opinion and Recent Legislative Activity.

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